The Blessed Macarius says: 'Changes occur in everyone just as they do in the atmosphere.' [Writing on Prayer of the Heart, 'Callistus and Ignatius,' pg. 217]

The Holy Elder Joseph the Hesychast saw that changes are important to be aware of, and St. Ignatius in his spiritual exercises is just as concerned that the soul desiring to make spiritual progress be aware of when thes echanges occur in the soul, especially when they cause desolation and a withdrawal from godliness.' These changes seem to be part of the battle between the spirit and the flesh, which St. Paul referred to and which those who strive for holiness of life are constatnly aware of in their lives. It takes on a form of examination at one time and at other times called 'custody of the heart,' as Dom Chautard calls it.

I will just add that as a beginner in the eyes of these Holy Ones that as they know any recognition of these changes is a great grace given by Our Lord,and so the Monks of the desert and the Hesychast are constantly protecting themselves from these uncontrollable changes adn controlliing what they can by placing all their interior acts within the presence of the Indwelling Trinity.

Recently I read a very profound book written by a Bishop fo teh Eastern Church called 'A Night on the Desert of the Holy Mountain,' which is a dialogue he has with an experienced Hesychast who perhaps is still living on the Holy Mount as a recluse. The profundity of the thoughts were amazing of the warfare that goes on in the depths of such a soul. The Monk who was sharing his thoughts said that his heart was at times like a zoo, meaning that with all his ascetic efforts there are changes which take place which one seems to not be able to control, yewt grace sees you thru. The important activity is keeping one's mind in the heart as Theophan the Recluse relates in 'The Art of Prayer.'

IP CRL

O how I love the Theotokos! When I think tht she bore my sorrows at the foot of the Cross with Jesus for everyone and realizing that I am absollutely nothing and more than nothing because of my sins, my gratitude mounts up to her where she dwelll seternally with Christ. There is this special quality about thte Theotokos, the Panagia, as the Monks on Mount Athos call her; that quality I call her tenderness. When I say tenderness I mean that there is a way that she gets into your soul and sees thru to you and she makes herself known to you even in the midst of the evil that surrounds us and tries to force itself upon the Catholic Christian. Of course, Mary makes you understand tha tall evil has been overcome and all we have to do is surrender to her. I like what she says thru Fr. Gobbi: "Continue, my son, your simple and filial abandonment.Live always in greatest confidence in my Motherly action."[July 30, 1974]

IP CRL